Luke 4:18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised...

Thursday, November 26, 2015

A Life Lived Wholly Unto God - Chapter 4: Sell Out and Obey Me

A Testament of the Grace of God on His Servantby Kathryn Currier with Doyle Davidson

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 was a moment in history that changed his life; it was like simple innocence came face to face with the wickedness of the world. He was 31years old, X-raying a horse on the Texas State Fairgrounds in Dallas, when a man walked up and told him and his client that Kennedy had been shot. He has stated: “That impacted my life like no other moment, to think that my president could be assassinated.” He could not understand how something like that could take place in the United States of America. He closely followed the events associated with Kennedy’s death and read everything he could get his hands on. He has stated, “Ultimately that event made it easier to sell my veterinary hospital and practice when God directed me to.”

When he built 121 Veterinary Hospital he knew in his heart he wouldn’t be able to keep it, although he barely allowed himself to acknowledge that thought. He asked Rodney Butler to become a partner with him in his practice, and it was God, setting him up for the day He would require him to lay his life down.

God allowed him much success even in his rebellion, but in 1969 the day came when it was over and he knew it. At the time, he was involved in a corporation that he was not enjoying at all and he really wanted out of it. As he was driving down U.S. 75 one day he said to the Lord, “If this has been you bugging me all these years telling me to obey you, sell my share of this corporation and I will do whatever you ask.” The next day he was on his way to a client’s to look at a horse and he stopped to get a coke. The two partners of the corporation were there and they asked him if he was interested in selling his share. As unassuming as he can be, he said, “Maybe.” They made arrangements to meet that afternoon and finalize an agreement and just that quick, it was done.

About two weeks later, he was motoring down 75 again, without a care in the world, and he heard the Lord say, “Sell out and obey me.” Doyle said, “I am not doing that,” and the Lord said, “You said if I would sell your share of the corporation, you would do whatever I ask.”“Well it didn’t include that!” Doyle replied. But he knew he was had and from that day, he knew his life was not his own. It was at that time that Doyle became increasingly frustrated with Dr. Butler’s actions and after Dr. Butler had his sixth wreck, a friend and the president of the Pontiac-Cadillac dealership and shop called him and asked him to come down to the dealership, he needed to talk with him. During the course of that conversation, he warned Doyle that Dr. Butler would destroy him financially. As Doyle related that story he said, “Throughout my life, God has always had someone there to speak to me things that were helpful.” When Doyle told God, no one would buy his hospital and practice, the Lord told him Dr. Butler would and Doyle responded, “He won’t buy it, he’s afraid.” God said, “I’ll make him buy it.” He did.

January 2, 1970, with his heart breaking, Doyle drove away from 121 Veterinary Hospital, leaving a lucrative equine practice that he loved. God wasted little time in divesting him of all his holdings, which included farms, horses, cattle and investments. He walked away from financial success and a reputation of one highly esteemed in the equine industry because he believed it was God. He was 37 years old.

Just as Abraham is described in Hebrews 11:8, Doyle by faith, sold his practice and left, not knowing where he was going:

“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out not knowing whither he went.”

After he sold his practice he struggled for three months, whether he wanted to obey God or not. He had some fear of God and knew if he didn’t obey he would be destroyed. He had grown up hearing about the rich man in Luke 12 and he did not want to be that man.

15) And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

16) And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:

17) And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?

18) And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.

19) And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou has much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

21) So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

Family, friends and business associates thought he was having a midlife crisis and he didn’t have the courage to tell people he was obeying God. His wife and daughter didn’t know what to think and Kathy has said, “I didn’t understand what was going on in our lives and I wish I could say I went along willingly, but I didn’t.” They moved to Springfield, Missouri for a short time and towards the end of those three months, in March, he went to see a friend in Dallas, Texas about a business deal. He checked into a hotel in Sherman at 3:00 AM and when he walked into the room there was a light on by the nightstand with a bible lying open. He walked over to the nightstand and looked down at the bible and it was open to Isaiah 30 and his eyes fixed on the first verse:

1) Woe to the rebellious children saith the Lord, that take counsel but not of me and cover with a covering, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin.

“As I read that verse, I knew for the first time in my life that I was a rebel. I never considered myself to be a rebellious person, but a person that won’t obey God is a rebel and God convinced me on the spot.” He never discussed the business deal with his friend, returning to Sarcoxie a changed man—never able to run from God again.

As Doyle was learning to be led by the Spirit of God, he had brought Patty of Oaks, one of the broodmares he still owned, to his farm in Missouri, after he had sold his practice. Some friends were visiting and wanted to see her and Doyle took them out to his farm where she was pastured. When they drove up she was about a ½ mile away and the people with him said, “How are you going to get her?” “Watch me,” he replied. She wasn’t wearing a halter and he didn’t have a halter or a lead rope with him, but he found some baling twine in the barn and took it with him as he started across the pasture. When he got close, she threw her head up and snorted at him, getting ready to take off. He said, “Stop!” Immediately she stopped in her tracks and he walked up to her and slipped the twine over her neck, looping it over her nose, as a make-shift halter and lead and started back toward where they were parked. Doyle has described her as a spirited thing and a bit of a show-off and she wanted to trot, and he let her trot in circles around him, as he moved the twine-lead from side to side and over his head, while she pranced around him. She responded to his every move without him putting any pressure on the string.

As they made their way back to the area where he had parked, the Lord said to him, “When I get through with you, that is how you are going to respond to me.” Doyle thought, “Lord, I don’t even have to tighten the string on her!”

In May 1970, Doyle’s sister was having car trouble one day and he went to lend assistance and brought her back to his house. They talked and before she left they prayed together. A day or so later, he was sitting on his couch and he asked the Lord, “Lord, who do I get with and who do I follow?” His bible was lying beside him and as he looked at it he saw the words in John 15:

1) I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandmen.

2) Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

3) Now you are clean through the words I have spoken unto you.

4) Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

5) I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

6) If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

7) If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

8) Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

He understood what a true vine was: one that would produce after its own kind. He also knew that a husbandman was a farmer—and purge was a term he was very familiar with for he had administered mineral oil and castor oil to newborn foals to cleanse their system and he knew it could be a very painful process. While he was considering these verses God showed him a vision of a watermelon vine with watermelon fruit on it. Soon, those fruits began to change and one became a cantaloupe, one a cucumber and one a strawberry. He knew God was showing him, Catholic, Baptist, and Methodist denominations and he was showing him, denominations were not of Him.

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About Doyle Davidson

Doyle Davidson was born on a farm near Sarcoxie, Missouri in 1932. He served as a hospital corpsman in the United States Navy during the Korean War and was one of 30 students admitted to the University of Missouri School of Veterinary Medicine in 1958.

Upon graduation, Doyle moved to North Texas and established a successful equine veterinary practice. In 1968, God moved in Doyle's life, and for two years the Presence of the Lord rode in his car asking him when he was going to preach the gospel.

In 1970, Doyle accepted Jesus as his Lord and subsequently was baptized in water and in the Holy Spirit. In 1980, God instructed Doyle to speak to the people of Plano, Texas. Doyle established Water of Life Ministries, and, in 1982, he closed his veterinary practice.

Doyle has been called by God as a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ.